I’m faintly surprised that a franchise as enduring (and endearing) as Oh My Goddess! has never until now received the light-novel treatment, but here we are (well, copyright 2006). What’s most interesting about this spinoff is the pedigree: author Yumi...
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Nisioisin has a palindromic name, and a mind that also seems to double back on itself in one knotty convolution after another. He writes novels that have elements of mysteries, thrillers, surreal comedies and what Japanese sometimes call “erotic grotesque...
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So now I can finally answer the question: What in the name of $DEITY is this Really Cool Thing I Haven't Been Able To Talk About For So Long?

::ahem::

As of a few minutes ago, I was officially hired as the new anime guide for About.com.
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It's hard not to react skeptically to word of the death of a man whose work you love and respect. When word began circulating that Satoshi Kon's death had been reported on Twitter by a colleague, there was shock and dismay. It couldn't be right.
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Here's an exercise for the reader. Take the word "horror" in the linked article and swap it for the word "anime" or "manga.

nick_kaufmann: The Cult of Not Mattering: How Horror Fandom Is Its Own Worst Enemy
Horror has its share of detractors. More than its share, really. There are a lot of people out there who think it's trash, that it's lame and ( Read more... )

On a whim: five manga, from my previous reviews and my own personal-faves shelf, that I think would make good candidates for animated productions.


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Queen’s Blade’s is an adventure story with the plot of a fighting game, the heart of an X-rated dating sim, and no brain to split between them. It comes straight out of the same chainmail-bikini school of post-feminist storytelling that...
[There's more! See the original entry here]

Belinda (S1E1) posted her own mixed feelings about Queen's Blade, to which I replied, "It's the best-written bad show I've yet seen." That really does encapsulate so much of what's wrong with it: the storytelling (which is not bad at all) is at such odds with the visuals (which are deeply sleazy) that the show pulls itself apart. The writing of QB ( Read more... )

Bits and pieces from this week's AICN Anime, including a couple of shout-outs to yours truly (thank you, Mr. Green).

Somerset, New Jersey's AnimeNext will host Kenji Kamiyama, director of Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and the to be released by FUNimation Eden of the East ... Black Lagoon creator Rei Hiroe (also known as doujinshi artist ( Read more... )